


Chaotic, certainly; Good, debatable

by AmmoKnotKnot7



Series: Stanning Sokka Week 2020 [1]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Canon Compliant, Crack?, Firelord Zuko (Avatar), Gen, Humor, Maybe - Freeform, One Shot, POV Sokka (Avatar), Post-Canon, Post-War, Sokka (Avatar)-centric, Sokka Week 2020, Toph Beifong Being Awesome, Vigilantism, Zuko is a Theatre Kid, jail time
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-01
Updated: 2020-11-01
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:01:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,184
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27323176
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AmmoKnotKnot7/pseuds/AmmoKnotKnot7
Summary: Day 1- found family |vigilanteThe Fire Nation police force live up to Sokka’s expectations of them being dumb to the point of hilarity.‘Standard procedure’ for an earthbender is... wait for it...An elevated metal prison.Sokka could double over laughing.Rich people are all monsters, and the Fire Nation is all evil.Fire Nation nobles are a vigilante justice feasting ground.Sokka and Toph scam the scammers, and cheer Zuko up in the process.
Relationships: Sokka & Toph, Sokka & Zuko (Avatar)
Series: Stanning Sokka Week 2020 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1994821
Comments: 17
Kudos: 215
Collections: Quality Fics, Sokka Week 2020





	Chaotic, certainly; Good, debatable

**Author's Note:**

> It's Sokka week y'all!! I'm so excited.
> 
> this prompt fit right in with one of my favorite scenes of my [longform fic](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24771709), so i expanded on it and put it from Sokka's perspective and generally had fun with it. Hope you enjoy!

They are definitely ending this night in jail. 

“Toph! How many times did I say _quiet_ ,” Sokka whisper shouts, swiveling around in the dark. 

“You’re the one who’s talking,” Toph retorts, “I haven’t said a word.” 

“Earthbending,” Sokka grits out through his teeth, “is not quiet.” 

“That sounds like your personal problem.” She stomps ahead of him, ignoring his annoyed huff. 

Sokka squints into the room they just left. “What did you even do?” he asks. Toph is already many steps ahead, darkness meaning nothing to her. Sokka jogs lightly to reach her. 

“I made a statue of myself to scare him when he thinks of scamming next time.” 

His palm meeting his forehead is loud, but if they were going to be heard, they would have been by now. “Toph we are trying to be discreet,” he hisses. 

“No, you are. And I know rich people. They'll notice the papers you took before they’ll notice that,” she sticks a thumb pointing behind them. 

That...is a good point. 

Sokka grumbles for the effect anyway. They make their way out onto the unnecessarily grand streets and Toph submerges them into the earth. The volcanic neighborhood is deserted, most nobles up in the Caldera Palace for the summit, but they could still use the cover, considering what little else they’re doing in any effort to not get caught. 

Sokka doesn’t shriek at being dropped into the sudden pressing darkness. This time. 

Instead he thinks about all the evidence they’ve collected till now. Well, that he has, while Toph puts the fear of herself in their victims. 

“You know,” he starts, “these nobles may be monsters, which, Fire Nation, of course they are, but damn if they aren’t organized.” Toph snorts, loud and echoey in their little chamber. “You’d think they’d learn to stop writing this stuff down.” 

“They haven’t had any reason to hide,” Toph retorts. “Before now, that is.” Sokka can hear the grin in her voice. 

They hit as many of the houses at the foot of the volcano as they can till someone, inevitably, hears the crunch of earth bending to Toph’s will. 

The Fire Nation police force live up to Sokka’s expectations of them being dumb to the point of hilarity. They’d informed Zuko of their intentions for the evening, so he should be anticipating the messenger that runs up to the palace to request his presence. And bail money. 

In the meantime, the officers put their minds to work. ‘Standard procedure’ for an earthbender is... wait for it... 

An elevated metal prison. 

Sokka could double over laughing. 

Zuko is going to be stressed, Sokka knows, since the day’s meetings were all about the colonies. Or, ex-colonies. That's part of the reason why they did this today. 

Even behind his Fire Lord mask, Sokka can see how Zuko’s haggard demeanor brightens up when he sees them lounging comfortably. Toph is essentially treating him like a glorified throne, and his arm around her squeezes slightly to let her know that Zuko’s here. 

“Hey bud. We found some incriminating documents and did some illegal shit. You know, a summer day.” Sokka smirks, pleased. 

“We scammed the scammers,” Toph adds, sounding like the gremlin child she is. 

Zuko is clearly enjoying himself. He keeps his eyes trained on them even as the stupid greasy-haired officer that found them complains like a kid whose sibling stole the last cookie. Not that Sokka has any experience. 

Zuko raises his eyebrow at them. “Property destruction?” 

Ah right. The thing without which they might not even have got caught. 

“Toph statues,” Sokka explains, trying not to roll his eyes. Toph speaks up, “To reintroduce them to fear. Won't be scamming so soon with a huge me glaring at them in the middle of their living room, now will they?”, and she sounds so delighted he really can’t regret any of it. 

“My Lord, they were -” 

Zuko raises his hand, and greaseball clams up so quick his teeth clack. Ha, take that stupid law-abiding cop guy. “Sokka. Scamming?” 

Sokka gives him a tilted smile. “Oh, just usual rich people stuff. Tax evasion, underpaid employees, corrupt business models, bribery,” he lists dutifully, “Spirits, so much bribery. You’d think they’d learn to stop writing this shit down by now.” 

What? It was a good line, he wanted Zuko to hear it too. 

Zuko asks about their evidence, and finally, finally, the evening moves to the best part. 

“Do you know who they are?” Zuko begins. 

The officers all shift, uncomfortable. “Yes, my lord, but-” 

“You don’t.” Zuko smiles conspiratorially. “They’re not trapped at all.” 

Spirits this dramatic theatre nerd, Sokka thinks fondly. 

“My lord, we know she’s an earthbender, that’s why we used the suspended jail.” 

Sokka gives in and allows himself a chuckle. “This is fun.” He can see Zuko’s eyes twinkle in agreement. 

“That’s Toph Beifong. She invented metalbending.” Zuko sounds stupidly proud. 

The jerk force have all gone white, staring at Toph. 

“And,” Zuko sounds like he can hardly hold in his laughter, and Sokka totally gets it, “she’s not even the one you’ve underestimated the most.” 

Well. It's debatable if he’s been underestimated at all. No one else could really have the kind of hidden talent that metalbending is, but everything about Sokka is pretty obvious already. 

Toph must have made some kind of face, because Zuko says, “At least they knew you were an earthbender.” 

Between one blink and the next, Toph has called one of the cells bars to her hand. Sokka’s eyes widen, he had not known she could bend metal she isn’t even touching. His mind reels with the possible applications. 

But then Toph passes him a sharp, balanced, metal boomerang over her shoulder and everything else flees. Oh but this really is fun. Sokka gives Zuko his underestimation comment if this is where it led. This is a story for every single party after this. Grinning, he looks around the room, thinking about how they’re going to wrap this up. 

Zuko would enjoy it so much if he made it extremely symbolic and climactic. 

The boomerang flies exactly how he intended, through the bars, shattering one of the lamps at the front wall, and bouncing back to clink against Zuko’s crown gently before he catches it. 

As expected, Zuko grins bright and happy, like he does when he’s ranting about his favorite plays. Sokka’s stomach feels funny, probably the adrenaline of it all. 

“I think you should probably go over the proof they brought in,” the Fire Lord says to the stunned officers. 

“And the money, Lord Zuko?” greaseball asks, and oh yeah, Sokka totally forgot about that. 

Zuko sighs at them, but his lips are still curling ever so slightly. “Money, too?” 

Sokka smiles. “Couldn’t have been all goody-goody, that wouldn’t be realistic.” 

“Plus,” Toph says, “it wasn’t even actually their money.” 

“Fine, then I'm adding it to the royal coffers.” 

“Ugh whatever,” Toph scoffs, like that’s not what they’d intended to do in the first place. With a shopping trip detour, at most. 

* * *

Next time, the Blue Spirit joins them. 

**Author's Note:**

> power trio of dumbasses: captain boomerang, blind bandit, blue spirit
> 
> look sometimes Zuko just wants to cut through the red tape and bring people to justice  
> the theatre cosplay is a bonus
> 
> [my Tumblr](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/omni-flex). come say hi!  
> [the official Tumblr for SokkaWeek2020](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/sokkaweek). check it out for rules, schedule and prompts.  
> [the ao3 collection.](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/SokkaWeek2020)


End file.
